Crispy Pork Belly Recipe (Siu Yuk)

The mutilate guide to make perfectly done Cantonese crispy pork belly with oven at home. Crispy pork belly is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes for the years in Guangdong province. Each time when I have a chance to enjoy Guangdong cuisine, this crispy pork belly is one of my choices.

After I learn how to make crispy pork belly from a Cantonese friends at home several years ago. I am always trying to find ways and information for a better result and trying to understand how every step works. And this is my ultimate guide.

Cook’s Note

This is the most simplified version for home cooking. I will introduce some extra steps if you want to bring this to the next level.

1.Choose the right part of pork| you should use pork belly to make crispy pork belly.

2.Poke as many holes as possible on the rind. The fat oil produced in the roasting process need ways to come out. Why we need oil coming through the holes? Because hot oil brings hot temperature, which can keep the rind something like gently deep-fried for a quite long time.

3.Applying baking soda or white vinegar can help to soften the skin and thus making the crispy pork belly even fluffy. But the remaining flavor of baking soda may bring some bitter taste to the skin. So the best solution is to set the pork for 30 minutes and then wash the skin before air-drying. I did not include this step in this recipe since it is not quite necessary for me.

4.The salt layer can help to absorb water and keep the skin dry. Cover a layer of sea salt on the surface can help to absorb the water released in the early of the roasting and keep the rind dry.

5.Marinating the pork belly for a longer time, at least overnight. We are roasting a large piece. During the marinating time, do not cover the pork belly with plastic wrapper. Place it in a large bowl and let it dry in the fridge.

You will need

1000g pork belly with beautiful layers

2 small chunks of ginger

2 scallions

1 tbsp. cooking wine

6-10 Sichuan peppercorns (optional)

Marinating

1 and 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp. Chinese five spice

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. white pepper

Roasting

sea salt to cover the meat

white vinegar for brushing

Instructions

Place the pork belly in a large pot (rind site down) with clean water, add cooking wine, scallion, ginger and sichuan peppercorn. Continue cook for 3 minutes after boiling.

Transfer the pork out and pat dry the water. Then pork as many as possible holes on the rind. Back and forth and repeat several times. This is the most important step. After the hard pork process, apply a small pinch of salt on the rind.

Cut two shallow lines on the pork (only the lean part, not deep to touch the fat) and then sprinkle the dry rub evenly.

Wrap the pork belly with foil wrappers and place in fridge overnight.Uncovered please, we need the rind to be dry before roasting.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Brush a thin layer of vinegar and spread salt evenly to form a protecting layer. Roast for 50 minutes.

Remove the salt and place the pork belly on the middle rack. Remember to use a tray to catch the dropping oils. Turn your oven to upper fire mode and turn up the temperature to 220 degree C.

Continue roasting for 20 to 25 minutes until the skin is well crackled. Let the pork belly stay in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until slightly cooled down. Transfer out and cut into small bites.Cutting tips: place the skin side down. Cut the meat part firstly and then press the knife to break the crispy rinds.

How to serve

You can serve this with sugar, mustard sauce or Thai sweet and chili sauce. But not too many cubes each time. I would suggest 2 cubes for each individual. I make three strips this time and serve only 1 strip one meal. We have very similar dish in Western China, where the pork belly rind is deep-fried for crackling. Mixed chili peppers are used to remove the oily.

Crispy pork belly is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes for the years in Guangdong province.

Course:
Main Course

Cuisine:
Chinese

Keyword:
Crispy, Pork Belly

Calories: 5268kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

1000gpork belly with beautiful layers

2small chunks of ginger

2scallions

1tbsp.cooking wine

6-10Sichuan peppercorns ,optional

Marinating

1.5tsp.salt

2tsp.Chinese five spice

1/2tsp.sugar

1tsp.white pepper

Roasting

sea salt to cover the meat

white vinegar for brushing

Instructions

Place the pork belly in a large pot with clean water, add cooking wine, scallion, ginger and sichuan peppercorn. Continue cook for 3 minutes after boiling.

Transfer the pork out and pat dry the water. Then pork as many holes on the rind. Back and forth and repeat several times. This is the most important step.

After the hard pork process, apply a small pinch of salt on the rind.

Cut two shallow lines on the pork (only the lean part, not deep to touch the fat) and then sprinkle the dry rub evenly.

Wrap the pork belly with foil wrappers and place in fridge overnight.Uncovered please, we need the rind to be dry before roasting.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Brush a thin layer of vinegar and spread salt evenly to form a protecting layer. Roast for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove the salt and place the pork belly on the middle rack. Remember to use a tray to catch the dropping oils. Use upper fire only at the temperature of 220 degree C, and roast until the rind is golden brown and well crackled.

Let the pork belly stay in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until slightly cooled down. Transfer out and cut into small bites.

Cutting tips: when cutting the pork belly, place the skin side down. Cut the meat part firstly and then press the knife to break the crispy rinds.

Thanks Julia for your lovely comment. Yes from your recipes, I know your love towards Asian food. I am learning about some breads and baking recipes too, hoping to bring my family and friends more yummy food to enjoy. Glad to have friends like you in the process.

I have recently found your blog and i can’t stop reading your entries. You are doing a great job, it’ s one of the best food blogs ever!!! The photos are awsame and your videos on youtube are great too. Please keep making these videos !!!! chinese food snd culture snd cooking is my passion snd I have learnt so much from you:) thank you so much for sharing all those wonderful things:)

I came across your crispy pork belly recipe here on the internet. I was not previously familiar with you or your recipes. I went to the asian market nearby and bought a niece piece of pork belly and followed your recipe. It was so easy and came out just like the picture, It is a delicious treat. Even the cold leftover piece, I just slice like thick bacon and brown it in the pan with eggs for breakfast. Better than bacon, no chemicals and that crispy skin is so wonderful.
I am now a fan of yours!

Hi Steve,
You are such a caring husband. I made this dish for my husband too, but did not hear any nice words. And you are so lucky to have a wonderful wife too. Wish you too happy every day and happy cooking ahead.

This is traditional way to make crispy pork belly in China. If the pork is not boiled previously, then you at least need to fry the rind on a pan for several minutes until it becomes harder so you can poke holes easily. Otherwise, it might be hard to form cracklings.

Please tell me when is the pork belly ready with good crackling. i followed your recipe and cooked it the second time for another 30 mins, but it still feels soft in the middle of the rind. Should I cut the rind off and roast it again separately?

Hi Elaine, I discovered your site a few months ago, and what a happy discovery! Your recipes are wonderful, your pictures absolutely beautiful, and both offer such a great insight into true Chinese (and Sichuanese) cooking. I’ve made the above pork belly for my husband, and he could not leave it alone. It was wonderful- rich and flavourful, with a wonderful crispy crackling. Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic recipes.

Hi Matt,
Thanks for the feedback. I am glad that my recipes can help. And for the cooking wine, you can use it in mostly Chinese meat dishes, the most common way is to use in marinating sauce for pork,beef, lamb,chicken etc.

Hi I used to make crispy pork belly by boiling, seasoning and fry the pork rind in oil. They turned out nicely but greasy. So I tried your receipe and it was a disaster. I followed exactly the steps described but the lean part which was wrapped with foil was burnt and part of the rind too. The crackles were uneven, parts were and parts not crispy. I think the soya sauce and sugar caused the burnt. Any suggestions?

Hi Chantel,
It is common that some part of (especially the corners) the lean get burnt as the temperature is high. You will need to remove them and brush a thin layer of oil.
The uneven crackles may be caused by two reasons: the first one is the uneven holes and the second might be the oven. I would suggest turning over the baking pan once or twice.

I have not tried any receipts yet but will do so this weekend Does anyone know how to make sugee cake that is moist and buttery that does not go rock hard if you have to refrigerate it? My grandma in Penang made just the best and I cannot duplicate it.
Many thanks

Hi, my boyfriend had tried a recipe that is somewhat similar to yours. He first boiled the pork belly to 70% done and patted the skin dry. He then poked holes on the skin and applied thin layer of salt and baking soda. Then went on marinating the lean meat. After marinating the slab of pork will be left overnight in the fridge with the skin facing up. The next day an inch thick of salt were layered on the skin. The pork belly was then roasted in the oven at 230deg C for 40 minutes. After that the salt layer were removed and he continued roasting as per recipe. But the result came out with a soggy layer of skin. Only the sides of the skin were not soggy but they were hard. We are suspecting if we had poked the skin too deep. We also fear that while roasting with the salt layer, the roasting time was not sufficient to remove the moisture. Please help!!

Corinne,
Your time is not enough. Firstly you can roast with lower temperature with a longer time. Then use high temperature for example 230 degree C or 240 degree C and roast for at least 20 minutes. The salt should be turn into chunks with lower temperature. So the salt can be separated from the meat so the moisture can be evaporated successfully via the small gap.

Wow! You cannot imagine how valuable this recipe this is for me! I love this pork belly since I was young and grew up eating it as a treat whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant. I have made it at home, but after following several recipes on the net – which didnt turn out the way I remembered it – I just decided to do the QUICK and EASY way. I just slapped salt all over a piece of pork belly, put in the oven for 50 minutes at 200C and crisped the skin at 220C for 10 minutes. Easy but not the same thing! Now I am going to try your recipe for real, and seeing how it turns out, I am betting my Siu Yuk future on your recipe. You have introduced a few techniques that I didnt know is very useful – such as boiling the meat with the rind down, cutting lines in the meat, wrapping it in foil the way you did. I believe these are essential steps that I didnt know of. I just want you to know that I am a daily visitor of your site as I am learning and to let you know that you are making a big difference to everyone who loves Sichuan Food and have discovered your blog. Please continue what you are doing and I hope life gives you the reward and satisfaction that you deserve. Your food recipes make a difference to my family!

Apologize! I think there must be a “code error” somewhere! I dont know why I have this strange avatar “SEX” associated with my name above. If you can erase it so much the better! Weird! SOrry, I did not intend for this to happen!

Efren,
Haha, I have never thought that might be a problem. You get a large foil firstly, place the pork belly in the middle and then fold up the four sides, and the fold any extra parts inside the box. It is actually quite easy comparing with other common papers since foil can be shaped easily.

Adam,
Yes, I agree greens (soup, salad or stir-fries) or salad (especially some strong black vinegar salad) can be quite good with this. In China, we usually serve this with sugar or a sweet and sour sauce.

Chinese Pantry

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